In the field of graphic arts, a number of graphic arts films are used for color separation, composing images, and so forth, in the step of making a printing plate having thereon a halftone-dot image formed from a continuous tone image on a reversal film, color negative film, color paper, or the like. This makes the working be so complicated that so many errors such as erroneous lettering, layouts and so forth cannot be avoided.
Furthermore, various amendments of lettering, layouts, coloring and so forth are very often requested separately by many customers. Therefore, some of such corrections are liable to overlooking. It is also necessary to make an advance check on whether or not a printed matter could be finished to meet the requirements of color tone and gradation. The checking procedures for the above are generically called a proofreading.
For the purpose of making confirmation of this kind of proofreading, not only a test proofing so-called a proof print but also a variety of systems have been made public and available on the market. These systems include, for example, those using a CRT, those using non-silver salt light-sensitive materials comprising a photopolymer, diazo compound or the like, those forming an image with dry-type toner, those of the electrophotographic proofreading types, and so forth. However, according to these proofreading systems, there have been general problems such as a long time required to finish a proof sheet, an expensive material cost, a poor workability, and so forth. It has therefore been the present situations that these proofreading systems have not satisfactorily been put into practice.
Besides the above, as for the other systems of obtaining a proof, there is a system in which a color-separated halftone original document is printed on a color light-sensitive material through spectorally separated light. These systems include, for example, such a method in which a proof is obtained on a color light-sensitive material through a photographing system by making use of a projection lens, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection--hereinafter referred to as Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication--Nos. 60-4276/1985, 62-280746/1987, 62-280747/1987, 62-280748/1987, 62-280749/1987, 62-280750/1987 and 62-280849/1987, and so forth' or the contact-exposure systems being marketed under the trade names of `The Carlson Proofmaster System` and `Color Proofing System` marketed by Chesley F. Carlson Co. and Kreonite, Inc., respectively.
In either system, a positive or negative type silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material is used. Therefore, these systems have excellent characteristics superior to those of the other proofreading systems, because a color proofing can be performed much faster in time and lower in cost, as compared with the other systems.
In these systems, a color original picture is so color-separated as to be converted into a plurality of halftone-dot black-and-white images. The resulted color-separated black-and-white halftone dot images are printed one after another on a sheet of color paper in a contact-printing method, for example. The printed color paper is treated in a color developing process, and a color image is formed with the dyes produced imagewise out of couplers in the color developing process. The resulting color image is used as an image for proofreading use.
Among the methods of forming images for proofreading use, there is also a well-known method in which a silver dye bleaching process is used, besides the above-given methods in which dye images are formed in a color development process. However, the silver dye bleaching process has such a defect as a processing unstability. Therefore, this method is not preferable for a method of forming images for proofreading use for which constant, stable and high quality images are required.
From this point of view, it can be said that a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material in which color images can be formed upon coupling reaction of a coupler with an aromatic primary amine type developing agent is excellent to meet the above-mentioned requirements, because this light-sensitive material can provide stable images.
Color paper used in such a method as described above is required to provide a color coupler image with a hue closely approximate to the hue of a color print image. However, this technical requirement has not been satisfied yet. To cope with the above-mentioned problems, Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 62-109055/1987, for example, discloses a method in which, when an exposure is made through a magenta-separated negative, a green-light exposure is made and, at the same time, a blue-light exposure is additively made, so that a resulting tone may be made close to that of a printed matter. Even in this method, as described in this patent specification, a satisfactory close tone may not be obtained even if an ordinary type color paper is used and an exposure is so adjusted.
Also, in this method, even if the tone could be made close to that of the printed matter in specific portions, i.e., a specific half-tone dot area, from the highlight to the shadow of a halftone-dot image, it cannot be said that the characteristics required for a color-proof are satisfied. Further, in order to obtain a color-proof image having a more closer tone, it is required to obtain a color image having a more closer tone in every area from the highlight portions to the shadow portions.